Metrorail Plan Would Link Broward, Dade

Study Considers Expanding Commuter Train

Imagine hopping on a train at the Broward Mall and riding to Joe Robbie Stadium for a game, Broward Community College for a class, downtown Miami for a festival or Dadeland Mall for a shopping spree.

No traffic jams. No parking hassles.

Broward and Dade planners have been considering just that. Their idea is to extend Metrorail, Dade County's commuter train, into Broward County to alleviate congestion in southwest and west Broward.

Planners are almost finished with a preliminary study that explores the idea. They are having a public meeting Thursday night at BCC and will complete the report next month.

The rail line, which is at least a decade away, would serve a different market than Tri-Rail, which hugs Interstate 95 and is more convenient for east Broward residents.

The proposal calls for running Metrorail up University Drive to just north of Interstate 595, then veering west around the Broward Mall and ending at Broward Boulevard.

Because Plantation officials worry that a train would ruin University Drive, a key commercial corridor, planners this week will present other options.

They include running the train along Florida's Turnpike, sending it north on University Drive to Interstate 595 and along the Sawgrass Expressway, or running it along University Drive and I-595 then north on Northwest 136th Avenue.

Planners caution that they are just floating ideas, all of which would need years of study before being pursued.

"We don't know enough yet to say, `stay on University Drive' or `go west,'" said Jack Burrie, Broward County's chief of urban transit planning. "There are a lot of options."

Plantation resident Diane McTee said she likes the idea of taking a train to Miami. McTee avoids driving to Dade because of the traffic but gritted her teeth and made the drive recently when a friend from Illinois visited. McTee took her to Bal Harbour and South Beach.

"I know my friend would have liked to have seen Vizcaya, but one trip down there was enough," she said. If Metrorail ran in west Broward, "I would use it. Especially if I had company."

Broward Community College provost Glen Rose said the area desperately needs mass transit. More than 55,000 students, faculty and visitors flock weekly to the South Florida Educational Center, which includes Nova University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University and elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. Most people drive alone, Rose said.

Steven Polzin, deputy director for the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, said a rail line could be successful if it ran frequently and was safe and reliable.

"People want to save time, so transit, to be competitive, needs to perform well," he said.

Broward became interested in having Metrorail after Dade began talking about extending the train to Joe Robbie Stadium. Metrorail now ends near Hialeah.

Broward County paid $240,000 to study a train, joining Dade County's $1.4 million study of a Dade extension. Dade's extension, which would run along Northwest 27th Avenue, would cost about $450 million and, if given final county approval, would be completed by about 2005. A Broward link would cost about $518 million and would take 10 to 15 years to complete.

If the extension were built, about 13,000 more people would board Metrorail daily in 2015 than the 109,140 who would ride if the extension weren't built, consultants concluded. At the Broward stops, 10,370 people would board daily.

Some are already worried at the prospect of a train running up University Drive.

"It's a shame that they think of that," Plantation Mayor Frank Veltri said. "A rail system will destroy that whole business section."

Kim Bentley, president of the Greater Plantation Chamber of Commerce, said chamber members understand the need for public transit and support anything that brings more people to Plantation. But they are wary of the idea.

Miramar Commissioner Lori Moseley said she worried about a train running through a suburban area.

Who would run the rail line and what kind of technology it would use are the kinds of details that are years away from being discussed, Burrie said. And there are plenty of hurdles. Money is tight and years of environmental and feasibility studies must be done.

But some say it's worth it.

"We've got to think beyond next year," BCC's Rose said. "Somebody's got to do some planning and creative thinking."